Hebrew word · H740

אֲרִיאֵל

'ari'el

Ariel

There are three main proposals. (1) Altar-hearth, the fire-pit on top of the great altar. Ezekiel 43:15–16 uses har'el / ha'ari'el for exactly this. (2) 'Lion of God', a hero or warrior (2 Sam 23:20; 1 Chr 11:22, 'two ari'el of Moab').

Appears 6 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Ariel = "lion of God" or "lioness of God"

Another name of ye.ru.sha.laim (יְרוּשָׁלִַ֫ם, יְרוּשְׁלֵם "Jerusalem" H3389)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Isaiah 29:7

Range of meaning

There are three main proposals. (1) Altar-hearth, the fire-pit on top of the great altar. Ezekiel 43:15–16 uses har'el / ha'ari'el for exactly this. (2) 'Lion of God', a hero or warrior (2 Sam 23:20; 1 Chr 11:22, 'two ari'el of Moab'). (3) Less likely, a link to the Akkadian word arallu, 'underworld'.

Against the English

English versions simply write 'Ariel' and leave the reader to guess. Modern readers may know it only as a personal name.

How it drifted

Translators kept it as a proper name. That is defensible, but it hides the wordplay.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezekiel 43:15–16 (altar hearth). The Moabite Mesha Stele (c. 840 BC, line 12) mentions an 'r'l that King Mesha dragged before his god Kemosh, probably a cult object such as an altar-hearth, though this is debated. In 2 Samuel 23:20 the word is used of Moabite warriors.

Where it appears

Ezra · 1

  1. Ezra 8:16 לַאֲרִיאֵ֡ל for Ariel

    Then I summoned the leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, as well as the teachers Joiarib and Elnathan.

Isaiah · 5

  1. Isaiah 29:1 אֲרִיאֵ֣ל אֲרִיאֵ֔ל Ariel

    Woe to you, O Ariel, the city of Ariel where David camped! Year upon year let your festivals recur.

  2. Isaiah 29:2 לַֽאֲרִיאֵ֑ל כַּאֲרִיאֵֽל׃ to Ariel, like Ariel

    And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; she will be like an altar hearth before Me.

  3. Isaiah 29:7 אֲרִיאֵ֑ל Ariel

    All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,

    Here: A poetic name for Jerusalem, 'the city where David encamped' (v. 1). It most likely means 'altar-hearth', the fire-pit on top of the altar (see the study below). The attackers are assaulting God's own altar-city.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.